Why should Nigerian users know what a ZIP code is? Zone Improvement Program, or ZIP codes, were crea

The internet abounds with question and answer forums. I followed airline ticket search engines an interesting discussion recently on a Nigerian forum where a user asked what the Nigerian ZIP code was, as he needed to complete an online form. The vast majority of answers insisted that the answer was 234 (that's Nigeria's international telephone country code), but if that wasn't working on the online form, add the city's number, for example 23401.
Why should Nigerian users know what a ZIP code is? Zone Improvement Program, or ZIP codes, were created by the United States Postal Service (USPS) and it's a term that s only widely used and universally understood in the United States.
This is not just an English-language issue, and it applies to other parts of addresses too. A post office box in France is a Boîte Postale but step over the border into Switzerland and you would empty your Case Postale . Canada uses the latter airline ticket search engines terminology too. Spaniards have an Apartado de Correos, while many Latin American countries have an Apartado Postal and still others have a Casilla de Correo airline ticket search engines !
Whereas you'd probably be asked your state in the USA, you'd need to ask for a province or territory in Canada, airline ticket search engines a state or union territory in India, a state or territory in Australia, a canton in Switzerland, a department in France or a county in Romania.
When you're collecting data via an online form, translating the form into the local language increases response rates and improves airline ticket search engines the quality of the data collected. But translation is not enough – the terms used and the fields presented need to be localised into the version used in that country.
Field labels need to use generic terms (such as postal code) and not be afraid to explain what is required. Short, pithy field labels may be the ideal for many user experience airline ticket search engines professionals but they do little to aid data quality!
Even if you do want a short field name, there s nothing to stop you applying a mouse-over explanation. A label Postal code/Postcode/ZIP code/PIN code may not look very flash, airline ticket search engines but it will mean more to most people than ZIP .
Graham Rhind is an acknowledged expert in the field of data quality. He runs his own consultancy company, GRC Database Information airline ticket search engines , based in The Netherlands, where he researches postal code and addressing systems, collates international data, runs a busy postal link website and writes data management software. Graham speaks regularly on the subject and is the author of four books on the topic of international data management. You can find him on Twitter via @grahamrhind .
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Alex Bryan Angela Davis Ben Alexander Charlotte Lewis Chris Dicken Christine Cameron airline ticket search engines Ed Moseley Ed Nash Gemma Britton Graham Charlton Graham Rhind Guy Mucklow Henry Thomas Jagvinder Kang James Lawson James Williams Jamie Turner Jason Ford Natalie Green Phil Rothwell Ralph Ashby Richard Geary Rob Willis Tom Gurney
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